GOP candidate for congress in California attacked by a man with a switchblade.

The suspect, Farzad Fazeli. Sacramento Bee. 

A Republican candidate for Congress in California's 15th district was attacked by a man with a switchblade this weekend. Sacramento Bee. Rudy Peters, a Navy veteran, is running against Eric Swalwell in the 15th district and was campaigning at the Castro Valley Fall Festival when he was attacked. The attacker, Farzed Fazeli, approached Peters at his campaign booth and began disparaging him and President Trump Fazeli then pulled a switchblade and may have thrown a glass mug at Peters as well. Peters defended himself using a campaign sign and was able to drive off the suspect after his switchblade failed. Police arrested him a short time later. For his part, Peters opponent, Eric Swalwell condemned the attack on Twitter. 

On Sunday, my opponent @PetersCongress was attacked at his campaign booth in Castro Valley. I’m glad to hear Mr. Peters is okay. But it’s NEVER okay to use violence to settle political disagreements (or any disagreement). Fortunately, @ACSOSheriffs arrested the suspect.

— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) September 11, 2018

My Comment:
This story is not getting much attention outside of conservative and local outlets. You would think someone attacking a congressional candidate would be major news but I guess not. Part of it might be because the 15th district is a safe blue district and not really competitive, but even then this is kind of a big deal.

Peters had a real chance of being hurt or even killed. Indeed, it seems he was saved because he aggressively defended himself and because Fazeli's switchblade failed. If either of those things were not true he could have been injured or worse. It just goes to show that self defense is something everyone should be prepared for.

I have to say that I respect Peters for fighting back. Going up against a deranged armed man while armed with nothing more than a campaign sign is a brave thing to do. Winning in that situation is just bad ass. I'd consider voting for him just because of that. He's a Navy vet so he probably had some kind of training but even then going up against an armed man is not a good scenario for anyone.

I do have to say that this situation mirrors the attempted assassination of right wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. He was out in the public trying to rally votes as well, but his attacker's knife didn't fail. He almost died because of it and it just goes to show how vulnerable political candidates can be.

This is especially true for minor candidates like Peters. Presidential candidates have the Secret Service and most bigger candidates for major officers can afford private security. That's not the case for a probable long shot candidate like Peters. I doubt he had any security at all and given California's draconian gun laws he probably didn't have a CCW permit. A minor candidate like this has very few options.These people are especially vulnerable to attack.

I think this is a pretty clear case of Trump derangement syndrome. Fazeli was so incensed by Peters and his pro-Trump campaign that he tried to kill him for it. That kind of reaction is so over the top but it is becoming more and more common. It was mostly dumb luck that this case didn't end up as an assassination...

Sad as it is to say, I would not be surprised if a GOP candidate for office does get murdered before then 2018 midterms. We all remember the congressional baseball shooting and you may also recall that there was an ill concived plot against the President himself during the 2016 campaign. With the media so out of control it wouldn't surprise me if some deranged nut job or even just a really pissed off person were to take the media seriously and actually try and stop a GOP candidate with violence. For me it seems less of a question of if but of when...